Will Millennials Turn to Capitalism or Socialism on Their Quest for Truth?

Authenticity without truth and humility means nothing. Millennials, especially Christian millennials, are looking for authentic leaders who will make a difference in the world. On a quest for truth, they want actions, not words.

"Don't count millennials out. Millennials are the hero generation. They are just biding their time and looking for someone that will stand up and say, let's go this way," Glenn said.

RELATED: Time to Pass the Baton to the Next Hero Generation: The Millennials 

No one understands this important block of voters more than Audrea Taylor. Formerly with TheBlaze, Audrea launched Because I Care to reach millennials across the U.S. The program has reached students on 40 college campuses, informing them about the importance of voting.

"We want to make a difference. And so we have to connect that to voting and help millennials understand that part of your civic responsibility and part of you making a difference, part of the way that you love and serve and care for your neighbor is in the voting booth and the way that you elect your leaders and who you elect to represent you and delegate that authority to," Taylor said.

Audrea joined Glenn on his radio program Tuesday to talk about the success of Because I Care and what millennials really want.

Read below or watch the clip for answers to these questions:

• Do millennials affiliate with a political party?

• What is the number one goal of millennials?

• What do millennials have in common with the generations that came up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II?

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN:  A good friend of the program.  And somebody who used to work for me and is now on their own doing a campaign, Because I care.  And it's BecauseICare.us.  Right?

AUDREA:  Correct.  Yeah.

GLENN:  And you have felt compelled for a long time to work with millennials.  At 17 years old, you were out doing all kinds of things.  And I think you're a rising superstar.  

Tell me -- tell me where millennials are right now.

AUDREA:  They're just apathetic to the political process.  They don't like the candidates.  They don't like the parties, even.  And so I think the concern is that a lot of them are going to stay home.  They're -- a lot of polling and studies are showing that millennials are less engaged than they were in 2012.

GLENN:  Which is the opposite of what the Democrats thought would happen, because of Barack Obama.  They thought they would develop this army of millennials who would come and march into battle with them, one after the other.

AUDREA:  Not the case.  Not the case.  So what they're discovering is that millennials are really fair game right now for anyone because they're -- they're seeing through the hypocrisy in both parties, and they're realizing, "Hey, I don't think I'm into this."  So what we're talking about, you might not like the candidate or the party, but we vote because we care about too many other things, in our community, in our nation, locally.  Our friends that are still looking for a job.  There's too many issues close to our heart that we care about.  And so we're talking to millennials on over 40 college campuses nationwide, and we're saying, "Let's vote because we care about too many other things."

GLENN:  So who does a millennial vote for?  As I watched the campaign -- I try to watch it as a millennial.  I try to watch it from four different perspectives.  And one of them is millennials.  And as I watched them, I realized this last election -- or, this last debate, that we all thought authenticity was the key word.  But it's not authenticity.  Because I believe that, in a way, Hillary Clinton is authentically who she is.  She's nobody.  She's -- she's hollow.

AUDREA:  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  And she is fake.  I think that's who she really is.  I bet you if you meet her in real life, much of what you see is who she is.

AUDREA:  Yeah.

GLENN:  Donald Trump is authentically like that.  I don't think there's a game or a face --

AUDREA:  He's himself.  Yeah.

GLENN:  He's himself.

AUDREA:  Yeah.  Yeah.

GLENN:  Okay?  

I think the word is transparent, that you would say, "This is who I am, flaws and all."

AUDREA:  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  Hillary won't say flaws.  Donald won't say flaws.

AUDREA:  Arrogance there.

GLENN:  And so we need truth.  Authenticity without truth is nothing.  Without humility, is nothing.  And as I'm watching these two, I think to myself.  They look to me like 1956.

AUDREA:  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  Millennials would have nothing to relate to with these two.  Nothing.

AUDREA:  Well, you said it.  It's truth.  Millennials are on a quest for truth.  They're trying to discover what truth is.  And so what we talk about a lot is that millennials to have discover that for themselves.  We've had a lack of education for us to even delve in and begin having those conversations.  But then we're also encouraging millennials, it's not just about these two candidates, although it represents the problems in the political system.

GLENN:  Yes.

AUDREA:  There's so many other races statewide and congressionally and locally, that millennials can have a huge impact on.  We're the largest voting bloc right now in history.  And so when we look at us sitting back and not, you know, participating, largest generation in US history.  And so millennials can have a massive impact, if we decide to do something with that power.

GLENN:  What is the response on campus?

AUDREA:  The response on campus has been good because they are -- they're encouraged that someone is not telling them who to vote for and that we're not telling them the answers and a party.  So the only voice that's been on campus is either a Republican group or a Democratic group.  And millennials are saying, "I'm not either one of those."  

And when we talk to them and say, "Look, we realize that we're not going to tell you who to vote for, you vote according to your conscience, but we're encouraging you to educate yourself and to care about these things.  And we realize that you don't like politics, I don't like politics, but we vote because too many other things are important."

GLENN:  So help me out on the churches.  I think the church has really done more damage to itself than Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker did.  Jimmy Swaggart did.  And because that one is about an individual.  This is about the institution.  Millennials -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- I hope I'm wrong.  Millennials -- at least the ones that I know -- you are a good example of it -- are, don't tell me about it.  I'm so sick of hearing about it.  Show me.

AUDREA:  Yeah.  Solutions.

GLENN:  Show me -- not just a solution.  Show me what you are doing.  I'll follow you if you are doing it and it's making a difference.  

But what's happened is, in my point of view, millennials have been going to church.  They've been listening to this.  And then they see, when the chips are down, you jettison all that and make an excuse and say, "Well, but it's different this time."  That's putting your faith in action, but in the wrong direction.  Which, if I'm a millennial, I'm sitting at church -- which, I don't want to go to on Sunday, and I go, "These people don't mean it anyway.  Why am I going there?"

AUDREA:  That's exactly right.  And it's because we're not consistent in our Biblical worldview.  So churches are picking a candidate that they like, for whatever reason --

GLENN:  Or, picking because they don't like the other one.

AUDREA:  Exactly.  But they're not consistent in explaining their Biblical worldview.  Because it's not consistent.  And they know it's not.  

And this is happening, not just nationally, but also locally.  We've seen this happen to churches locally too.  

So they need to talk about a Biblical worldview, all four years, right?  Not just every four years, every two years.  And talk about those Biblical principles and how they apply to the tough issues of our day.  When they do that, consistently, authentically, truthfully, you're right, millennials do understand it, and they want to be a part of it.  But the church hasn't done that.  And they've been hypocritical in the way they've approached elections for a long time.

GLENN:  And that is the thing that we don't -- we don't understand.  This generation is different than the proceeding four generations.

AUDREA:  Way different.  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  This is -- your generation is the hero generation.  That's the actual title.  It is the generation that is exactly like the generation that came up in the Great Depression and fought World War II.  

And so you're all about action.  You're all about togetherness.  It's why you can be swayed by a socialist message.

GLENN:  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  Because you want to do good.

AUDREA:  It's our number one goal in life.  

GLENN:  Right.  You want to do good.  You look at the world as a collective.

AUDREA:  Uh-huh.

GLENN:  And if somebody is saying those things to you, it immediately connects.

AUDREA:  Yes.

GLENN:  But if nobody is on the other side saying, "Yes, we can make a difference.  We can make things good, and we can make things better together, but we have to remember the individual, that you count."

AUDREA:  Yeah.

GLENN:  It goes awry.

AUDREA:  Absolutely.  

Millennials volunteer more than any other generation before us in the history.  We give to more charities than any other generation in history.  And we're young right now.  

So why is that?  You're right.  It's because we are the hero generation.  We want to make a difference.  And so we have to connect that to voting and help millennials understand that part of your civic responsibility and part of you making a difference, part of the way that you love and serve and care for your neighbor is -- is in the voting booth and the way that you elect your leaders and who you elect to represent you and delegate that authority to.

So it's absolutely right.  We are the hero generation.  That's what we want to be.

GLENN:  What is the number one -- if you listen to the parties, the number one thing that millennials want is free education.  Is that true?

AUDREA:  No.  I think it's a lack of education and really understanding -- millennials want everyone to have opportunity.  And they don't understand that the best thing to create opportunity is a free market system.  And it's not free handouts.  It's a system that is so prosperous that it allows for people to, you know, work their way through college and to do it themselves.  But I think for a long time, we haven't talked to millennials.  We've talked about them.  But we haven't really spoken to them.  And there's other people that have, and they've done it really well.

PAT:  Yeah, their teachers have talked to them.

AUDREA:  Yeah.

JEFFY:  Yeah.

PAT:  Their teachers have taught them that socialism is superior to capitalism.

AUDREA:  In Christian colleges.  In Christian universities.

GLENN:  Oh, I know.  

PAT:  Yes.  Yes.  

GLENN:  I've talked to people at Liberty, and I've talked to people at BYU.  

PAT:  How do we overcome that?  How do we overcome it?

GLENN:  I don't know.  I've talked to BYU and Liberty University.  And they both have said that, you know, there's -- it's tough to find a Biblical worldview person that believes in the American system of free markets.

PAT:  Yeah, they're having a tough time.

GLENN:  And get them to teach.  It's almost impossible.

AUDREA:  And there's two reasons.  The first is that they use secular textbooks that are written with communist and socialist messages.  Unbelievable.

PAT:  Right.

AUDREA:  And then they hire professors that have a really great credential but have never been trained in a Biblical worldview.  And they put them in the classroom, and they think that if they pray before class, it might magically translate into a Biblical worldview.  And we know that it doesn't.  You know, we see it.  We see it played out right now.

GLENN:  What an interesting thing to say, that if we put them in there and we just have them pray at the beginning, it will magically transform them.

AUDREA:  Maybe quote a Bible verse at the start too, you know.

GLENN:  Yeah, that will transform them.  

So are you registering people?

AUDREA:  Yeah, so what we're doing is we're working on 40 Christian college campuses across the country.  And we're realizing -- we all know this:  Twenty-five million Christians were registered in the last election, but they didn't vote.  And I'm not even talking presidential.  There are so many other important races.  

So we've created a really great system that helps millennials get to the polls.  We tell them where their polling place is.  We help them register.  Twenty-five states, you can still register.  

But a lot of these students have requested absentee ballots.  So this is a great tool, not only for college students, but also for Christians to share and make sure that people get to the polls.  

This is too important of an election for us to allow two candidates at the top of the ballot to define the rest of our decisions.

PAT:  Before we've educated them, do we want them to vote?  I mean, I have (laughter) about that frankly because, you know, like you said, they -- they tend towards socialism right now.  Because that's what they've been taught their whole lives in school.  So they --

GLENN:  I just have to echo -- I just have to echo Thomas Jefferson on trusting the people.  They'll get it wrong, but eventually they'll get it right.  We have to trust the people.

STU:  That's a different standard though than what I think many people do, which is, you know, rock the vote, or whatever.  It's like, rock the vote after you've thought about it for 15 seconds.

PAT:  Yeah.

STU:  If you thought about the issues for ten minutes in the past four years, then rock the vote.  If you haven't done that, don't rock the vote.  It's -- there's no shame --

GLENN:  Yeah, but what she's saying is that that's what their group does, is not rock the vote.

STU:  Exactly.  It's exactly what we need.  We need people -- because, I mean, we always -- we sit here and blindly encourage people to vote.  It's actually a terrible instinct.

PAT:  It is.

STU:  You should not be voting if you don't know about the issues or candidates.

AUDREA:  Yes.  And exactly what you said.  Rock the Vote does, you know, 100 campuses, right?  But they don't educate.  And so we've started with a smaller number.  We're on 40.  We're sponsoring educational events on these campuses.  And then we're feeding them a lot of messages that go in line with, what are these principles?  Why are the reasons that we should vote?  And really covering those.  Because, yeah, we want to get out the vote.

GLENN:  How can we help you get the word out?

AUDREA:  Have people go to BecauseICare.us and just check out what we're doing.  Share it with your kids, with your college students that are on a campus right now, or even with Christians maybe within the church that might think about voting but don't get out and actually do it because it's on top important for people's communities, for your local government, to sit this one out.

GLENN:  BecauseICare.us.  Remember that.  BecauseICare.us.  

I'm on my way to TCU this week.

AUDREA:  Awesome.

GLENN:  To spend an evening with the students out there, to hear where they're out at.  What should I expect?  I'm actually kind of -- I'm a little nervous.

AUDREA:  I think they're going to be really eager to have a conversation with you.  Millennials are eager to learn and learn from people that they --

GLENN:  I don't want to teach.  I want to learn from them.  I really want to learn -- and because I believe -- and I hope I'm not disappointed.  I believe millennials are more like you.

AUDREA:  They are.  They absolutely are.  They absolutely are.

GLENN:  Yeah.

AUDREA:  No, but I think you're going to have a good conversation with them, is what I'm saying.  You're going to learn from them.  They're going to learn from you.  I think you'll discover that they're not as pre-decided in their thought process as people think that our generation is.  They're really not.  They're searching for truth.

GLENN:  That's great.  Thank you so much.

AUDREA:  Thanks for having me.

GLENN:  God bless.  

Featured Image: Audrea Taylor featured Tuesday, October 18, 2016 on The Glenn Beck Program.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.